Large buildings maintaining factories, offices, or multiple residential dwellings often have a complex water system. In large facilities, such as schools, office buildings, manufacturing plants, apartment dwellings and the like, a main water system services the entire building through a series of pipes and valves. The repair or replacement of a valve typically requires that the valve be isolated from the water main and from the remainder of the water system to the greatest extent possible. While the designs for water systems for buildings often section the water system into discrete and separate areas such that only a single area need be shut down while effecting valve repairs and replacements, many buildings are designed so that the main water valve itself must be shut down in order to deactivate the entire system such that necessary repairs can be made. This, of course, is a great inconvenience in schools and apartment buildings, while it can also be extremely costly in manufacturing plants and the like.
There is a need in the plumbing art for a technique and apparatus that accommodates the singular isolation of valves so that repairs and replacements can be quickly and effectively made with a minimum of inconvenience and cost incurred.